Dubious
by alissalbw
Summary: Loretta is a native Italian, moved to London by her father's career path. Once her father is retired he and his family are stuck there. They are oh so very close to sinking under the poverty line so Loretta takes on black market jobs to help keep the family from sinking, and hopefully move them back to Italy. One job will come in having to do with a familiar Earl (not a romance)
1. Chapter 1

Late nineteenth century England, you had your rich and you had you poor. Among the poor you had those that worked earnestly to make their money the right way, the thieves, and you had those that did dirty jobs. You want someone killed? You want to buy a slave for cheap? You want something, anything, illegal? The black market was your place. As a kid Loretta believed the black market to be an actual place that she could go to make money when she was old enough. When she grew older, she found that it was far more complicated than that. To get your name out there in the black market as someone to hire, you had to know people, you had to do something that was worth getting your name out there, and you had to be good at it.

She was struggling, horribly. Sure she got a few jobs, but only one, two, sometimes three, if she were lucky that is, a month. She barely had the money needed to survive. She didn't come from a poor family, but she didn't come from a rich family either. Her parents were just barely above the poverty line, but so far away from the wealthy line.

Her family was strict; her father was in the Italian army. If he hadn't, they would still be in Italy, but he was stationed in England right before he retired. Since he retired the army refused to pay the money for him to return, and since they did not have the money they decided to stay in England.

Loretta longed to return to Italy, to return to her friends and her church. Her resolution? To get a job, a job that paid in multitudes. Where else better than the black market?

Loretta was sitting on the dirty cobblestoned entry of an old and run down ally way in the poorer side of London, letting the sun hit her dirty face as she calmed herself down from another panic attack. She has an awful habit of getting too worked up when things didn't go as smoothly as she had planned. It had been almost two months since she had last had a job and money was getting tighter with each ticking second, her father's retirement money from the Italian government was running out; not that it was much to work with from the beginning.

A man walked by swiftly, dropping a letter onto her lap as he walked by. When she had lifted her head he had already disappeared into the crowded street full of poor citizens and cheap fruit stands. She tucked the letter into a small self made pocket on the inside of her torn and thin cloak that barely protected her from the weather. She stood up and patted at the dirt on her, not that it did much, before stepping further into the one way ally. Leaning against the wall she opened the letter and read it from the sunshine that shone in from the opening of the ally above.

_Loretta Albert, a dear friend of mine that has used you in the past recommended me to you. I need you to find your way into the home of the Earl Phantomhive. I will need you to gather as much information as you can and meet me at this very spot every Sunday night at 24:00. Each piece of information that you bring me will be rewarded reasonably. I am looking for nothing in particular, anything will suffice. I will give you more information during out first meeting._

_If you are worrying about how you will be getting into the Phantomhive manor, do not. My dear friend, of whom gave you the recommendation, is close to the Phantomhive boy and will meet you at this spot at exactly 13:00 to help you get into the manor. You shall recognize her when you see her, she is hard to forget. Best of luck my dear._

There was no signature at the bottom of the letter; no name. However, there was a neatly written, and fairly large, 'G' in the bottom corner.

She pulled out her bent and cracked pocket watch, the chain missing, and looked at the time. She had two hours to wait for the mystery woman, and there was nothing needed for her at home. She would eventually get a letter to her parents, but she knew from past experience that her absence won't look suspicious since her parents know of what she does.


	2. Chapter 2

Five minutes, five more minutes before the mystery woman was scheduled to show up. Loretta was severely nervous about this job, she has heard of the amazing Phantomhive butler that could surely sniff her out as a rat and it scared her. However, she needed the money. Her family needed the money.

"Loretta darling!" An all too familiar lady in red exclaimed as she approached the girl. Her red outfit had her sticking out like a sore thumb in the street full of poors clothed in dirty tans and blues.

"Madam Red!" The young girl screamed in joy, rushing over to give the woman a hug. "Are you the informant?" She asked as she pulled back from the hug.

"Indeed I am." She replied, her laugh lines showing as she smiled. Madam Red had used Loretta for various jobs and always looked to the girl as a daughter. Loretta was quite fond of Madam Red as well. When she had jobs for her she would allow Loretta to stay in her home, she would treat her to meals and buy her nice clothes, as well as pay her for the job she had done. "It's been far too long." She sighed.

"It has." Loretta replied. "How do you know the Earl?" She asked.

"I am his aunt." She answered.

"And you are comfortable helping me spy on him?" She asked, confusion and suspicion lacing her voice.

"I am afraid you would not understand, even if I bothered to explain it to you." She took a deep breath. "Now come child, we have shopping to do first."

An hour later and the two were standing in front of the Earl's door, Loretta in a brand new maid's uniform and with a new back story. Sebastian, the Phantomhive's head butler, opened the door. "Madam Red, how lovely it is to see you once more." He greeted. "Would this be one of your servants?" He asked, his eyes quickly dashing to the younger lady.

"Ah, yes. I would like to talk to the Earl about that actually." She replied as she slipped off her coat and handed it to him.

"Why of course, would you like me to occupy your servant in the mean time?" He asked as he led the way to the study.

"No, I would like her with me if that is alright." She answered with a smile.

"Of course." He said, knocking on the door. "Young Master, Madam Red is requesting an audience with you."

"Let her in." The young boy's voice sounded from the other side.

The two entered the room as the butler left to continue on with his work, something not sitting right in his stomach about their visit. "Oh, my favorite nephew." Madam Red said as she sat in the chair in front of the boy's desk.

"What is it that you need? I have work to do." He replied, his voice as cold as ever.

"This is Loretta, one of my servants. I will be leaving town for a little to visit an ill friend and would very much appreciate it if you would allow her to work here, I will continue to take care of her salary of course."

"How long do you expect to be gone?" He asked, his eyes narrowing on the two.

"Well that is hard to say, a few weeks, maybe a few months."

"Madam Re-"

"Oh please, just do this one favor for your aunt." She begged, the tone of his voice making it obvious that he was about to oppose.

"Fine." He huffed, clearly unhappy about it.

"Oh thank you dear! Now I must run but just one quick thing; Loretta gets a little panicky if she does not have a person to receive orders from. If you do leave town as well please be sure to take her along." She informed him to ensure that Loretta would always be with him as she slipped out the door.

"What does she mean by that?" He asked the girl left behind.

Her green eyes meet his blue one for a second, but they quickly flicked back down to the ground. Part of her new character was acting timid to avoid suspicion. "I-I panic when I d-do not have s-someone to t-t-tell me what I should d-d-d-do." She stuttered out.

Ciel let out a scoff then called for Sebastian to put her to work. She was ordered to help out the other maid of the house, Mei-rin.

They started out with drying and putting away the dishes that Sebastian had just washed. Mei-rin of course dropped the majority of the ones that she handled. "Are you ill?" Loretta asked her.

"Why no I am not. I am healthy as a horse I am." She laughed.

"Oh." Was Loretta's only response. She had never met someone so clumsy in her life. "Are you sure those glasses work properly?"

"They work spectacular!" Mei-rin exclaimed. "Why Lord Phantomhive gave them to me he did."

"That's lovely to have such a giving master." Loretta replied with a soft smile.

"Why Madam Red seems like a lovely mistress to have as well."

"She is lovely." Loretta confirmed. "She treats me to nice meals, buys me pretty clothes, and opens her home to me."

"That is lovely, yes it is." Mei-rin softly replied.


	3. Chapter 3

"Since I am the only female servant I always had a room to myself, I did. This will be fun, having another girl to spend time with, yes it will." Mei-rin said excitedly.

Loretta on the other hand was not as thrilled. She wanted, no; she needed to have a room to herself. She needed to be able to sneak around the mansion without anyone noticing her absence so she could get the information that she needed so she could get paid. Mei-rin was also especially talkative, so Loretta saw very little sleep for the foreseeable future.

"Is it alright if I retrieve a glass of water from the kitchen?" Loretta asked, her voice soft to keep up with her fake persona.

"Yes, I shall accompany you, I will." Mei-rin responded, getting up from her sitting position on the bed.

The two girls left the room and headed towards the kitchen, Loretta a tad upset. She has wanted to try and slip away for a second, then lie and say that she got lost when she returned. "How long have you been working for the Earl?" Loretta asked, trying to keep some conversation going.

"Two years, yes I have." She answered. "How long have you been working for Madam Red?"

"Oh wow, it has been a while. I believe I first started working for her about five years ago, maybe a little less." Loretta responded. She has never realized how far back she and Madam Red went, the majority of her jobs were from Madam Red.

"So you must know her pretty well, you have."

"I did not know that she was Lord Phantomhive's aunt. She talked often of her precious nephew from her slayed sister and brother in law." She paused. "I'll let you in on a little secret, Madam Red fancied Lord Phantomhive's father. However, she got over him and found a man that she deeply cared for."

"I wish I knew as little as half that you about Madam Red about Lord Phantomhive, yes I do, he is always so distant. He and Sebastian are always whispering behind closed doors about things, yes they are." Mei-rin sighed.

"About what? If you don't mind me asking that is."

"I do not, no I do not." She chuckled. "However, I am afraid that I do not know of what they speak of, no I do not."

Loretta opened her mouth to start talking but from the corner of her eye she saw a lantern flicker and turned to follow it, Mei-rin following close behind. She was lead to the front doors of the manor, Sebastian holding open the door for Ciel to pass through. "Where are they going?" She whispered to Mei-rin.

"Ciel most likely received a request from the Queen, he did." She whispered back.

With Ciel and Sebastian leaving, Loretta knew what she had to do. She and Madam Red had prepped out what she would do to show that she freaked when she didn't have orders to follow. However, she was not too happy about having to play the part so soon.

A plan began to form in her head as the two girls walked back to their room. She would now be able to sneak around the manor and find something, anything, that she could give to the man that hired her without Ciel or Sebastian lurking around. She may have only been in the manor for a few hours but she had already witnessed that the only servant capable of doing anything correctly was Sebastian, and now he was out of the picture. She would still have to keep up the act of panicking about not having anyone to command her, even though it might interfere with her ability to sneak around the manor.

She told Mei-rin that she did not feel well and just wanted to sleep, so the girls laid in their beds and drifted off to bed. Mei-rin with her thoughts of Sebastian and Loretta with the thoughts of how tomorrow would play out.

When she had woken up Mei-rin was already gone. She quickly got up and readied herself for the day. She then rushed out of the room to attempt to find the others, which were all gone.

Once she was sure that there was no one left in the house she snuck up to the study and twisted the handle, only to be disappointed when the door was locked. She quickly walked, almost ran, back to her room to hurry and get this done before the rest of the servants returned. She took a wire hanger from the small wardrobe that she and Mei-rin now shared and headed back up the stairs. She quickly straightened the wire and inserted it into the simple lock, using her lock picking skills to get the door open.

She quietly shut the door behind her and walked over to the desk, she shuffled through the papers left on the desk; being sure to place them back in the same state. The papers were just financial statements for the Funtom Toy Company. She knew that these were not what the man was looking for so she moved on to the drawers only to find more boring paperwork for the toy company that the young earl owned.

When she got to the last drawer, it was locked. She inserted the wire hanger into the small hole and tried to unlock it, but failed. This lock was far more complicated than regular locks, she was going to need the actual key to open this drawer; or learn better skills.

She exited the room, locking it behind her and bending the wire into a small piece of scrap that she could fit into her pocket.

"Loretta!" Mei-rin yelled as she entered through the door with Bard and Finny.

"There you are!" Loretta yelled as she approached them, heavily breathing. "Where were you guys? Should we not be working? Is there no list left for us to follow?" Each new question deepening her breath until she was having a full on panic attack; a fake one of course, but the servants didn't know that.

"Loretta! Are you alright?" Mei-rin asked, flustered and at a complete loss on what to do.

"She's having a panic attack." Bard replied and walked over to Loretta, instructing her to breathe in and out and to calm down.

After a few minutes of this Loretta calmed down and asked to retire to her chambers, Mei-rin accompanying her of course. Loretta laid back down in her bed and acted as if she were out of breath, closing her eyes and placing a hand on her chest to feel her heartbeat. "Are you going to be okay?" Mei-rin asked, but Loretta did not respond; she had 'passed out'.


End file.
